Stocks in Canada’s largest centre rose on Tuesday, led by financial shares after one of the country's major banks reported better-than-expected earnings, while lower oil prices weighed on energy stocks.
The S&P/TSX Composite gained 40.91 points to begin Tuesday at 14,789.10
The Canadian dollar strengthened 0.28 cents to 77.47 cents U.S.
Three Canadian pension funds agreed to sell their stakes in TMX Group, which owns the Toronto Stock Exchange, for a combined value of about $312 million.
TMX shares dwindled $3.56, or 6.1%, to $56.40.
BMO cut the rating on Absolute Software to market perform
Absolute shares dipped two cents to $7.38.
As for BMO itself, the "First Canadian Bank" came out with third-quarter earnings amounting to $1.245 billion or $1.86 per share
BMO shares gained $2.18, or 2.6%, to $86.60.
Canaccord Genuity raised the target price on convenience store giant Alimentation Couche-Tard to $78.00 from $73.00 with a buy rating.
Couche-Tard shares gained $1.07, or 1.6%, to $67.85.
RBC cut the rating on Performance Sports Group to underperform from sector perform
Performance shares gave back 11 cents, or 4.6%, to $2.26.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange regained 3.97 points to 824.21
Eight of the 12 subgroups were higher in the first hour, with financials triumphing 0.8%, consumer staples higher 0.4%, and information technology 0.3% better.
The four laggards were weighed most by health-care, ailing 0.2%, while energy and gold lagged 0.1% each.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded higher on Tuesday as investors awaited housing data and continued to look ahead to Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's speech at the end of the week.
The Dow Jones Industrials reversed fortunes and climbed 96.7 points at 18,626.12, with Goldman Sachs contributing the most to gains.
The S&P 500 moved up 10.62 points to 2,193.26, with materials leading all sectors higher.
The NASDAQ Composite powered up 30.29 points to 5,274.90, and hit a fresh all-time high
Investors also digested quarterly results from Best Buy and Toll Brothers, among other firms. Best Buy shares soared 15.5% in the pre-market after beating expectations on both earnings and revenue. Toll Brothers' stock gained about 1.2%.
On the data front, new home sales data for July stateside was scheduled for release at 10 a.m., with economists expecting sales to have fallen to a seasonally adjusted rate of 580,000. In June, new home sales rose to their highest level in more than eight years.
Other data released Tuesday included the Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index for August, which came in at 52.1.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury gained, lowering yields to 1.53% from Monday’s 1.54%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dropped 67 cents a barrel to $46.74 U.S.
Gold prices gained $2.10 to $1,345.50 U.S. an ounce.
